The Worley Olympics in our Team Worley shirts.
I had so many plans for The First Annual Worley Olympics, but as usual life gets in the way and I was only able to complete a handful of them. The end result however was accomplished. My family is living a healthier, more active lifestyle and my boys have a better understanding of the hard work and dedication it takes to achieve your goals. You would think they would already have at least a small grasp of this concept living with a Dad who runs likes the wind, or a Mom who is kicking an illness in the hiney, but I’m still glad I was able to convey this lesson through our Worley Olympics.
We started the Worley Olympics with preparation day which you can read about here: http://ourstoryoursong.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/gearing-up-for-the-olympics/
After enjoying the opening ceremonies the weekend was fun packed with the Circus:
http://ourstoryoursong.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/the-greatest-show-on-earth/
Regular Church activities and a Lowe’s Build and Grow clinic at Lowes completed the adventure.
The week was short with two playdates and then a trip to family reunion, so conversations about the Olympics were thrown in and scattered. Oh yeah, and there was that little thing we started called Homeschool right after we returned from Family Reunion. With that brief synopsis of life in the Worley World, here are some of the fun things we did do for the Olympics! We are looking forward to MORE fun for the Winter Olympics next year.
We started our days with Olympic themed snacks each day.
Making our Olympic Rings for the Athlete Check-In station.
Stretching before Olympic Tae Kwon Do
Olympic Gymnastics where Samuel brought home the GOLD!
I was just impressed with myself that I could actually do this again! Be thankful I didn’t post the many pictures of my back side trying to get in the handstand before the timer went off on the camera!
It’s actually totally dark in the house and we are playing glow stick tag. Isaiah LOVES thing that glow!
Pool noodle duel.
Isaiah may have had a little advantage!
We did a little swimming with members of our Church. The boys were not to sure of the lake, but they did alright.
Daddy was the only one brave enough to compete in the great slide competition.
Daddy was also the only one to brave the zip line competition!
But all my Olympians were good sports!
We took one night and went out to the track for the final competition of the Worley Summer Olympics.
We competed in a sprint were we learned quickly that Isaiah is going to be a runner. He took off like Usain Bolt and never looked back.
We also had a broad jump competition.
I gave myself the gold for this jump!
But Isaiah is shaping up to be quite the athlete! And…He’s pretty stinking cute in his tank top and shades!
After a short water break…
We started the gymnastics portion of The Worley Olympic Games with the balance beam.
And fearless Isaiah couldn’t get enough of climbing and jumping off.
Of everything, with a ball in his hands at all times.
Noah did some monkey bars…
And some monkeying around. This is his pommel horse signature move.
Because this blew in, so we went home and made smoothies.
We had ice cream torch rewards followed by a bath and…
and snuggly book time with the Olympic Champion, Daddy.
We really had a blast having our Worley Olympics and I’m confident this is a tradition that will continue in our family. It was the boys first real time to focus on sports and what it takes to be a serious athlete. We were also able to teach a hands on lesson in how to be a good sport AND be ok with losing sometimes. Of course being the head teacher of Worley Academy I had an entire lesson plan of the human body prepared to go with this. The boys found it fascinating to feel their hearts at different points in exercise. Because our Papa died of a heart attack, Samuel really took all this information serious. This week also restarted our “Black List” of food items where the boys began reading labels and voluntarily adding un-healthy items to the list of foods we chose not to put in our bodies. The figured out quickly what a sugar crash felt like and they grasped the importance of hydration. I know these are lessons that will have to be learned over and over, but I’d say we’re off to a pretty good start.
That is so amazing! What fun you had with your boys, and you managed to add in some learning with all that fun!